25 of the Most Famous Ancient Greek Statues and Sculptures

The ancient Greeks are legendary for many reasons; their story-telling through mythology, for their twelve glorious gods, their esteemed philosophers and  proud, brave warriors.

However maybe we remember them most for their love of beauty which we see when looking at ancient Greek statues and sculptures.

 Beauty, which the ancient Greeks honoured, by constructing some of the most spectacular, life-like statues and sculptures and amazing architectural wonders which greatly influenced the rest of the world, in fact Roman architecture essentially became a reproduction of ancient Greek architecture.

 Here are twenty five incredible works of ancient Greek art, twenty five of the most famous ancient Greek statues; where they originated, where and when they were discovered and where they can be found today.

 Throughout the three eras of Ancient Greek art; Archaic (600 – 480 BC), Classical (480 – 323 BC) and Hellenistic (323 – 31 BC), three main materials were used; Bronze, marble and chryselephantine (Gold and ivory on wood).

The main men, all great sculptors, back in the days of the ancients, were Myron (Active 480 – 444), Pheidias (Active 488 – 444), Polykleitos (Active 450 – 430), Praxiteles (Active 375 – 335) and Lysippos (Active 370 – 300).

 25 famous ancient Greek statues, listed in chronological order, with the approximate date of their creation.

 

1.  Lady of Auxerre (Kore of Auxerre)

 Around 650 – 625 BC

 

 

Now in the Louvre Museum, Paris, France

The Lady of Auxerre mysteriously came to light in the storage vault of the Louvre Museum in 1907.

Where she came from and how she got there nobody knows.

 The Lady of Auxerre is a “kore”, meaning a young girl, a maiden, also another name for Persephone, daughter of Demeter in Greek mythology.

The male equivalent is “kouros” a youth or young boy.

These are free-standing ancient Greek figures, life-size or larger, and were often used as grave markers.

 These ancient statues, as were all ancient monuments and sculptures, were not originally as we see them today but were brightly painted sadly the colours have worn away with the passage of time.

The Lady of Auxerre, a limestone, Cretan sculpture 65 cm high (Unusually small for a kore), has a narrow waist, as did goddesses of the Minoan/Mycenaean era and rigid stiff hair which shows an Egyptian influence

 

2. The Sacred Gate Kouros (Dipylon Kouros)

Around 600 BC

 

 

Now in the Kerameikos Archaeological Museum, Athens, Greece

The Sacred Gate Kouros, 2.10 meters tall and made from Naxian (Naxos) marble, was unearthed in 2002 at the cemetery of Kerameikos, the potter’s quarter of ancient Athens, by the German Archaeological Institute in Athens.

The fact of the kouros being discovered near the sacred gate of the Kerameikos Cemetery, a double gate, in Greek “dipylon” (along with other artifacts; two marble lions, a sphinx and fragments of marble pillars), leads experts to assume it was the work of the “Dipylon” sculptor who worked at the Athens’s Keraimeikos cemetery, the largest necropolis of ancient Greece.

 

3. Kleobis and Biton

Around 580 BC

 

 

Now in the Delphi Archaeological Museum, Greece

Found at Delphi, the navel of the world and home to the Greek oracle, Pythia, in 1893 and 1894.

 Kleobis and Biton, two larger than life (naked, except for boots )are identical ancient Greek statues made from Parian (Paros) marble.

 Although found at Delphi the statues originate from Argos in the Peloponnese and according to an inscription on the base were made by Polymedes of Argos.

 There are two stories to choose from regarding their identity.

 Along with the name of the sculptor the word “Fanakon” is inscribed on the base which means princes.

This is the the name usually given to Castor and Pollux, twin brothers, the sons of Zeus, known as “dioscuri”, widely worshiped in the Peloponnese.

 The second story has the statues named as Kleobis and Biton, the names under which they are displayed in the museum at Delphi.

Kleobis and Biton were two human brothers, sons of the Cydippe a priestess of the goddess Hera at Delphi.

One day Cydippe is being pulled up a steep hill in her cart, drawn by oxen, to pray at the temple.

Suddenly the oxen drop dead on the spot and being such good sons Kleobis and Biton hitch themselves to the cart and proceed, with much effort, to drag their beloved mother up the steep hill.

The brothers make it to the temple at the top of the hill where they collapse from exhaustion.

Their mother, Cydippe, prays to the goddess Hera to allow them to die peacefully in their sleep which is the kindest and easiest death for mere mortals.

 

4. Moschophoros (Calf – Bearer)

 Around 570 BC

 

 

Now in the Acropolis Museum, Athens, Greece

The Moschophoros is one of the earliest Greek statues to be found at The Acropolis of Athens during excavations in 1864.

It is a “kouros” (Male youth) standing 1.65 meters high made with marble from Mount Hymettus, Attiki. (The base is limestone)

An inscription on the base indicates that the statue was an offering to the goddess Athena from Rhonbos or possibly Kombos or Bombos as the beginning of the name is missing.

Many think the statue was an offering to the goddess Athena; however others are convinced it must have been an offering to a male deity, maybe Zeus, as it is a male calf he has on his shoulders.

It was most likely from a prominent male citizen of Athens who had the statue made in his own likeness.

The calf he is carrying may represent the sacrificial offering he is about to give to the god.

 

5. Peplos Kore

 Around 530 BC

 

 

Now in the Acropolis Museum, Athens, Greece

The Peplos “kore” (Young female or maiden) is a statue measuring 1.18 meters which was found in three pieces during excavations at the Acropolis, Athens, in 1886.

 Made from Parian marble (Paros), this “Kore” takes its name from the “peplos”, a heavy woolen shawl worn in ancient Greece, which the young maiden is wearing.

Holes on the lower right arm and bent left arm suggest that maybe she once wielded a bow and arrow or shield.

  Holes in her head and shoulders suggest she originally wore a bronze head decoration or helmet.

 

 

6. Kritios Boy (Ephebos Youth)

Around 480 BC

 

 

Now in the Acropolis Museum, Athens, Greece

The headless body of the Kritios Boy was found during excavations on the Acropolis Athens, in 1866.

His head was found twenty-three years later.

When the head was joined to the body the statue stands 86 cm tall.

This  Greek statue, attributed to the sculptor Kritios, is one of the best examples of the shift from late archaic to early classical Greek style.

Statues became less stiff and rigid, they displayed more natural movement and bore their weight on one leg  rather than two as in archaic style

 

7. The Fallen Warrior of the Temple at Aphaia

Around 480 BC

 

 

Now in the Glyptothek of Munich, Germany

The temple of Aphaia was built within a sanctuary on the island of Aegina, dedicated to the goddess Aphaia.

The existing temple is maybe the second or even third temple built on the site, the previous ones having been destroyed.

 In 1811 English architect, Charles Robert Cockerell and Baron Otto Magnus Von Stackberg, removed sculptures from the East and West pediments of the temple and had them shipped abroad where they were sold to the Crown Prince who was soon to be Ludwig I of Hanover.

The sculptures taken from the temple of Aphai were of two warriors felled in battle who lay dying.

The warrior from the West pediment had an arrow or spear lodged in his chest (Now missing), the warrior from the East pediment is thought to be a later sculpture.

Both are thought to represent warriors from the Trojan Wars.

 

8. The Charioteer of Delphi

Around 470 BC

 

 

Now in the Delphi Archaeological Museum, Greece

The Charioteer of Delphi, also referred to as the “Heniokhos”  –  “The rein holder” is an excellent specimen of ancient bronze sculpture, was found in 1896 in the sanctuary of Apollo At Delphi.

This is one of the best-known and best-preserved ancient statues of Delphi.

It is thought to have been constructed to commemorate the victory of Polyzalus of Sicily at the Pythian Games.

The Delphi Charioteer, a young man wearing the customary jockey’s tunic of the day, the “xystin”, was originally part of a group.

He only survived because he was buried under a rock fall at Delphi and therefore escaped being taken away and melted down for its metal as happened frequently in those days.

The charioteer, the last remaining bronze sculpture from Delphi, is almost intact, it still has its glass eyes and copper detailing on the eye lashes.

It’s thought that maybe this is the work the sculptor Pythagoras of Samos, who lived and worked in Sicily.

 

9. Zeus and Ganymede

Around 470 BC

 

 

Now in the Archaeological Museum of Olympia, Greece

Zeus and Ganymede is a terracotta group depicting Zeus taking young Ganymede to Mount Olympus.

The first fragments of the group were uncovered in the stadium at Olympia in 1874, more pieces were found, at the same place in 1938.

The two figures, Zeus and Ganymede, depict a well-known scene from Greek mythology (this is the myth behind the Zodiac sign of Aquarius) where Zeus, upon seeing Ganymede (From Ancient Troy), is overcome by his beauty, stole him from his father and took him to Mount Olympus.

 

 

10. The Riace Bronzes (The Riace Warriors)

Around 460 BC

 

 

Now in the Museum Nazionale della Grecia , Reggio , Calabria.

 The Riace Bronzes were discovered in 1972, by Stefano Mariottini, a chemist and amateur scuba diver.

 Stefano, while out snorkeling, two hundred meters off the shore of Riace, Calabria, Italy, was shocked to spot what he thought was a human arm sticking out of the sea bed.

Thinking the mafia had been up to no good Stefano called the police.

 The police arrived on the scene, dug around a bit and  realized they were dealing with something better than a dead body!

They called in archaeologists who discovered not one but two ancient Greek statues (no shipwreck however).

The two statues, which differ in height by a few centimeters, labeled statue A and statue B, are thought to have been made by separate sculptors; statue A by Myron, a student of Pheidias,  and statue B by Alkamenes.

At one time, they would have held spears.

Although discovered in 1972 the figures were not put on public display until 1981 in Florence and Rome where over 1000 000 flocked to see them in less than one year!

 

11. The Artemision Bronze (God from the Sea)

Around 460 BC

 

 

Now in the National Archaeological Museum, Athens, Greece

 The Artemision Bronze was pulled from the sea in two pieces off the Cape of Artemision (North Euboea- Evia) during excavations at the site of a Roman shipwreck in 1926 to 1928.

The statue, which measures 209 cm in height, portrays either Zeus or Poseidon (Neptune).

Zeus would have held a thunderbolt, Poseidon a trident.

 

12. Discus Thrower (Discobolus)

Around 460 BC

 

 

Now in the National Museum of Rome

The original bronze statue, the Discus Thrower, thought to be by Myron of Eleutherae, an Athenian sculptor who worked solely in bronze, and is best known for his representations of athletes, is unfortunately lost, but the piece is known from Roman copies.

The first copy of the famous statue, found on the property of Massimo family, at Villa Palombra on Esquiline Hill in 1781, is the Palombara, or, Lancellotti Discobolus, made in the first century.

After restoration the statue was installed in the family palazzo and later, at the Palazzo Lancellotti.

In 1937 Adolph Hitler negotiated with Galeazzo Ciano, Italian Minister of foreign affairs, to buy the the Discobolus statue.

Hitler eventually bought the statue in 1938 (After much protesting from the Italian people) for five million lire.

The statue was sent to Germany by train, and displayed in the Glyptothek, Munich.

 The ancient Greek statue was returned to Italy in 1948 and is now displayed in the National Museum of Rome.

A second copy, The Townley Discobolus, was found at Hadrien’s Wall in 1770 and bought by an English art dealer, Thomas Jenkins at public auction in 1792.

Later, it was bought by Charles Townley for four hundred pounds sterling, for the British Museum in 1805.

The Discus Thrower has now become an iconic image of the Olympic Games.

 

13. The Marble Metopes of the Parthenon (Part of the Parthenon Marbles)

Around 447- 438 BC

 

 

Part of the Parthenon Marbles, now in the British Museum, London, England.

 The Metopes of the Parthenon were originally ninety two marble panels which enhanced the exterior of the Parthenon, part of the Doric Frieze were found on the Acropolis of Athens.

Sculpted by made by Pheidias, they are famous examples of classical Greek high-relief.

 The metopes of the Parthenon depicted scenes from ancient Greek mythology and in general represented the triumph of reason over animal passion and chaos.

 There were fourteen metopes on each of the Western, and Eastern walls and thirty two on each of the Northern and Southern walls.

 The fourteen metopes of the Eastern wall, were above the main entrance of the Parthenon and show the final stages of the battle between the Giants and the Olympian gods which depict Zeus, a chariot ridden by Hera and Poseidon (Neptune) with his trident.

 The metopes of the Southern wall show the battle of the Lapiths (An Aeolian tribe) against the Centaurs (Mythical creatures with the upper body of a man and lower body of a horse).

The metopes of the North wall show the Greeks at war with the Trojans, referred to as “The Sack of Troy”.

 In 1687,during an attack from the Venetians, a stash of dynamite, exploded inside the Parthenon, destroying many of the metopes, only fourteen of the original 32 panels survive and are displayed in the Acropolis Museum.

Fifteen of the Metopes from the South wall were “removed” by Lord Elgin of England, and are now in the British Museum, London.

 

14. The Parthenon Marbles (Goddesses of the East Pediment of the Parthenon)

Around 447 – 438 BC

 

 

It saddens me awfully, to say that these unique marble sculptures, made by Pheidias, from the beautiful white marble of Penteli, which adorned the Parthenon on the Acropolis of Athens for thousands of years, are now in The British Museum, London, England.

From 1801 to 1812 Thomas Bruce – Lord Elgin,  visited the Acropolis of Athens, (Oh that he never had!) which was under Ottoman occupation at the time and proceeded to deface the pride of Athens, the Parthenon.

Elgin removed nearly half of the surviving sculptures:

Twenty one figures from the East and West pediments and seventy five meters of the Parthenon Frieze were hacked from the walls of the majestic temple and one of the six Caryatids was removed, much to the disgust of Lord Byron, who likened Elgin’s behavior to vandalism and looting.

Elgin had the stolen loot shipped to England where he sold it to the British government in 1816.

The British government then handed it over to the British Museum.

The goddesses on the East pediment of the Parthenon, depict the birth of the goddess Athina, to the left is Helios, the sun god, rising from the sea, pulled by horses, next comes the only figure to have a head, Dionysus, and then Persephone and her mother. Demeter.

The central group of Athena being born from the head of Zeus after being struck with an  by Hephaestus (god of blacksmiths) is unfortunately missing.

Still surviving are a group of three goddesses who are possibly Hestia, Dione and her daughter, the moon goddess; Selene.

 

15. Athena Parthenos (Athena the Virgin)

Around 447 BC

 

 

The Athena Parthenos, by Pheidias, a huge statue of the goddess Athina, created from chryselephantine (Gold and ivory on wood), eleven and a half meters tall, housed in the Parthenon on the Acropolis of Athens, was removed by the Romans, and is now lost.

 Ancient reproductions, such as the “Varvakeion Athena” a third century AD Roman copy, and the Lenormant Athena (Unfinished), from the second or third century AD, are displayed in the National Archaeological Museum of Athens, Greece.

A large modern copy by Alan LeQuire, sits in a reproduction of the Acropolis Parthenon, in Nashville, Tennessee.

 

16. Zeus at Olympia

Around 435 BC

 

 

A giant sculpture of the ancient Greek god Zeus, lost and destroyed during the fifth century AD, was thirteen meters tall, the size of a four story building, and erected in the Temple of Zeus at Olympia, Greece.

This amazing sculpture was made by Pheidias (Who had also made the huge statue of Athena Parthenos) and reportedly took eight years to construct.

The Temple of Zeus was designed by Libon from Elis in 466- 456 BC, the site included a stadium, where the Olympic Games were held every four years, in honour of Zeus.

Pheidias’ workshop was found in 1954- 58 West of the Temple of Zeus.

The Zeus of Olympia, Zeus sitting on his throne, was commissioned by the Eleans, an ancient region in the Southern Peloponnese and consisted of ivory and gold panels, placed over cedar wood and embellished with ebony and precious stones; it is one of the seven wonders of the ancient world.

No copy has ever been found but details of the Zeus of Olympia are know from word of mouth descriptions, passed down through generations of ancient Greeks, and from images of Zeus of Olympia, adorning ancient Greek coins.

What happened to this great Zeus is not known.

Was it carried off to Byzantium by the Romans and maybe later destroyed in the fire at the Palace of Lausus in 475 AD?

Or did Zeus perish in the fire at Olympia in 525 AD?

 

17. Marathon Youth (Ephebe of Marathon)

Around 400 BC

 

 

Now in the National Archaeological Museum of Athens, Greece

 The Marathon Youth is a bronze statue, found in 1925, in the Bay of Marathon in the Aegean Sea.

Most likely the Marathon Youth was the winner of an athletic competition.

The style suggests the sculptor may have been connected to the school of Praxiteles.

 

18.  Hermes of Praxiteles

Around 400 BC

 

 

Now in the Archaeological Museum of Olympia, Greece

 Hermes of Praxiteles came to light during the excavations, in 1877, at the Temple of Hera, Olympia.

This giant 2.13 meter high statue, made from highly polished Parian (Paros) marble, made by the ancient Greek sculptor Praxiteles, shows the Ancient Greek myth of when Hermes takes the baby Dionysus to the Nysiades.

The Nysiades were, three, five or six Okeanid-nymphs of the mythical Mount Nysa, who are said to have reared Dionysus, and whose names are Cisseïs, Nysa, Erato, Eriphia, Bromia, and Polyhymno.

 

19. Aphrodite of Knidos

Around 350 BC

 

 

The statue Aphrodite of Knidos, one of the most famous works of Praxiteles, the first naked female Greek statue and the most copied has not survived.

Some say it may have been moved to the Palace of Lausus, Byzantium, by the Romans, which burned down in 474 BC and was lost forever.

According to Pliny, Praxiteles of Athens, an ancient Greek sculptor, was commissioned to create a figure as a cult statue for a temple dedicated to the goddess Aphrodite, by the people of the island of Kos.

Praxiteles made two statues, one clothed (The unclothed one is the one that does not exist today) and one nude and presented both statues to the people of Kos, and bid them to take their pick.

The prudish citizens of Kos, shocked to the core instantly rejected the nude statue and took the clothed figure.

The rejected nude figure was bought by the citizens of Knidos, an ancient city in South – West Asia Minor.

 Famous for its beauty, the knidos Aphrodite, the first life-sized figure of a naked female, shows the goddess Aphrodite preparing for the ritual bath which restored purity (Not virginity).

 To add to the gossip already surrounding the Knidos Aphrodite, Praxiteles is rumored to have used the courtesan Phryne as his model.

 This often copied sculpture, also referred to as the Venus (Aphrodite) Pudica, (On account of her modestly having her hand over her halfpenny), “The Venus de Medici” or “The Capitoline Venus” and, despite being a cult statue became a tourist attraction in ancient Greece.

It is said even Aphrodite, after hearing all the talk about the statue, came to see it for herself!

The Patron of the Knidians, Nicomedes of Bythia, offered to pay off the huge debts that the city had chalked up, in exchange for the beautiful statue of Aphrodite, his offer was refused.

 The most accurate copy of the Aphrodite of Knidos is the “Colonna Venus”, housed in the Museo Pio-Clementino, in the Vatican Museum.

 

20. The Motya Charioteer

Around 350 BC

 

 

Now in the Giuseppe Whitaker Museum, San Pantaleo island, 10km north of Marsala, Sicily .

The Motya charioteer was found in 1979 at Motya, an island off the West coast of Sicily.

The island of Motya, initially inhabited by Phoenicians, was given its name; Motya, (The name of a woman associated with Hercules in Greek mythology) by the ancient Greeks who had settled there nearly four centuries before.

 The Motya Charioteer, wearing the customary tunic, the “Xystis”, made by a Greek sculptor living in Sicily, is one of the first surviving classical sculptures of anywhere in the world.

 

21. The Victorious Youth (The Getty Bronze)

Around 310 BC

 

 

Now in the J. Paul Getty Museum, Pacific Palisades, California, USA

 The ancient Greek bronze statue of The Victorious Youth was caught in the nets of a fishing trawler in the Sea of Fano, on the Adriatic coast of Italy in 1964.

 After a few “Under the counter” goings on, many offers and much competition from the Metropolitan Museum of art, The Victorious Youth was obtained for the Getty Museum in 1977.

 

22. The Winged Victory of Samothrace (Nike of Samothrace)

Around 200 BC

 

 

Now in the Louvre Museum, Paris, France

And now we come to one of the two most famous Ancient Greek Statues of the whole world, the Winged Victory of Samothrace, or Nike of Samothrace, Nike; Greek goddess of victory.

This is one of the few surviving original Hellenistic statues not a Roman copy (The other one being the Venus di Milo).

 The sculptor is unknown but it is thought that Pythokritos of Lindos may be the talented man.

The statue, made from grey Thasian (Thasos) marble and white  Parian (Paros) Marble, stands 2.44 meters tall and proud and  not only honours the goddess Nike but also a sea battle, thought to be either the Battle of Salamis or the Battle of Actium.

The Winged Victory of Samothrace was discovered on the Greek island of Samothrace, then under Ottoman rule, in 1863, by the French consul, Charles Champoiseau, also an amateur archaeologist.

Champoiseau had the statue sent to Paris in 1884.

Now Nike,The Winged Victory of Samothrace, stands proudly in the Louvre Museum, Paris.

A plaster replica stands in the museum at Samothrace which is built on the spot where the original Winged Victory was discovered.

 

23. Laocoon and Sons (Laocoon Group)

Around 200 BC

 

 

Now in the Vatican Museum

The sculpture of Laocoon and his sons was discovered during excavations in Rome in 1506 and was placed on public display in the Vatican Museum.

A near life-sized group of figures, over 2 meters in height, the sculpture depicts the Trojan Priest, Laocoon, with his twin sons; Antiphantes and Thymbraeus, being attacked by two gigantic sea serpents.

 Pliny credits the work, which at the time was in the palace of Emperor Titus, to three ancient Greek sculptors from the island of Rhodes; Agesander, Athendoros and Polydoros.

  Pliny was not sure though if the statue is an original of the Hellenistic era or if it is a copy of an earlier sculpture made in the “Pergamon Baroque” style which emerged from the city of Pergamon in Greek Asia Minor (Modern day Turkey).

Laocoon, a priest of the god Apollo and son of Priam of Troy, is known from Greek mythology for angering Apollo by breaking his oath of celibacy and getting up to a bit of hanky panky in the Apollon Sanctuary resulting in the birth of his twin sons.

 Is this why Apollo had the sons of Laocoon crushed to death by serpents, leaving Laocoon alone to suffer, or is another version of the story the reason for the death of Laocoon and his sons in which Laocoon is a priest of Poseidon (Neptune) rather than Apollo and is killed, along with his sons, for warning the Trojans not to accept the Trojan horse from the Greeks?

  Virgil describes this event in The Aeneid and gives Laocoon the famous line;

  “Do not trust the horse, Trojans. Whatever it is, I fear the Greeks even bearing gifts.”

 This gave birth to the famous line;

  “Beware of Greeks bearing gifts.”

 

24. The Pergamon Altar

Around 150-125 BC

 

 

Now in the Pergamon Museum and Altes Museum (Both on Berlin’s Museum island), Germany

 The Pergamon altar of Zeus was a monument built on the Acropolis of the ancient city of Pergamon in Greek Asia Minor (Modern day Turkey)

 The base of the altar was adorned with a relief showing the battle between the Giants and the Olympian gods known as the Gigantomachy.

In 1878 a German engineer, Carl Humann, began excavations on the Acropolis of Pergamon and after rather a lot of haggling with the Turkish government, it was agreed that all fragments of the frieze from the Pergamon Altar, found by Humann, would become the property of the Berlin Museums.

The pieces of ancient Greek sculpture were shipped to Germany where they were reconstructed by a team of Italians and in 1930 were put on public view in the Pergamon Museum of Berlin.

25. The Venus de Milo

Around between 150 and 125 BC

 

 

Now in the Louvre Museum, Paris, France

And here we are, the last of my chosen twenty five spectacular ancient Greek sculptures, it’s been a long haul but what a one to finish with; The Venus de Milo, maybe the most recognizable of all ancient Greek statues!

The Venus de Milo, made from Parian (Paros) marble, standing 203 cm high, was discovered by a Greek peasant, Georgos Kentrotas in 1820.

The statue was found inside a buried niche in the ancient city of Milos, today the village of Tripiti, on the Aegean island of Milos, then under occupation of the Ottomans,

After agreeing to sell the statue to the French, Georgos became impatient when payment was not forthcoming and sold it to Nicholas Mourousi, a translator in Istanbul, a case of first come, first served.

     Just as the statue was being put aboard a ship heading for Istanbul, the French Ambassador’s assistant, Hermes de Marcellus, arrived at the port in the nick of time, seized the statue and managed to convince the chief inhabitant of the island to annul the sale, which he did and the statue was presented to France as a gift.

When first discovered it was thought the Venus di Milo was made by the Great Athenian sculptor Praxiteles, however, after the discovery of an inscription on the plinth, it turns out this amazing work was done by a strolling minstrel and artist, Alexandros of Antioch, who worked for commission.

 The statue is believed to be Aphrodite (Venus), goddess of love and beauty.

 

Can the Venus de Milo ever be bettered?

 

If you compare this last statue, the Venus de Milo, with the first on my list, the Lady of Auxerre, you will notice how the style has evolved from the rigid stiffness of the archaic period to the fluid, free movement of the Hellenistic period.

Slowly but surely, through the classical period, the statues have become more life-like, they now have a certain finesse.

Their faces are no longer without expression, staring straight ahead and you may notice that coy little smile or the sideway glance of an eye.

Pure perfection was achieved with the advent of the Hellenistic period; notice the detail of the drapery on the Winged Victory of Samothrace, the turn of an ankle here, the crook of a finger there and everywhere, soft, fluid movement.

What better example of how the sculptures have evolved is there than the Venus de Milo with her air of aloofness and that twist of her waist?

 After this exceptional work of art, what?

Can the Venus de Milo ever be bettered?

I think not.

 

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